5/04/2007

It was pretty windy up in Kenosha this weekend but the weather was great! I have never been to this race so I was not sure what to expect. I figured I would work on weaving through the pack, not the usual blast up the gutter move but something a little more elegant..ahem I am a cat 4 and all. I was happy that it was windy so I could work on pack placement though. And the fact that the wind was blowing pretty hard was great because I was immediately aware when I was not in the right place. My other goal was to be up close enough to the front to keep an eye on any breakaways and to avoid the slinky effect. All my goals were accomplished so lets move to the decisive moments....

With 2 laps to go the pace finally picked up and I casually went from 10th to 5th (or so, I was not actually counting) making sure I was where I should be as the pack started to string out. When we came around the 4th turn on the 2nd to last lap it got a little slow and an attempted break away into the wind popped off with a Lot guy on his wheel. The attempted died shortly after and the Lot guy slingshoted around him turning the corner out of the headwind. At this time I am passing the 3rd and 4th guy because they were dislocated in the break and lucky me am going solo in the wind. I look under my arm and I notice the bright white Jersey of another Lot guy. Well here it goes lets go all out and expect nothing from my man on my wheel (can ya blame him?) I thought to my self don't look back the race is up front just lay the hammer down. Smooth sailing feeling good I am closing the gap bit by bit but is it going to be closed in time? Final turn down the straight it was only a matter of time before I get sprinted off of (I was getting played) I looked under my arm where is he? Block right, left, right ouch he got me on the left and I cruise in for a solid 3rd.

There are some things that I thought of afterwards that I should have done but it is what I learned that really matters. See ya'll this weekend.-Ryan